


How You Raise A Grimm

by cronaisawriter



Series: After The End [2]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Family Dynamics, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Growing Up, Parent-Child Relationship, Post-Canon, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 00:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17415683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cronaisawriter/pseuds/cronaisawriter
Summary: No one told Nick how he was supposed to raise his kids, how he was meant to keep them safe, how he was meant to give them a life. When faced down with the fact he won't always be there to save them so he makes a choice.





	How You Raise A Grimm

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about how you end up raising a kid who is going to live a life of violence no matter what you do. I mean within Diana and Kelly's short life in the series they were surrounded by all of it. They will be alienated from the human world but not really Wesen. So that's where this story comes from. 
> 
> CW: Minor descriptions of violence, harassment, referenced child abduction

Rasing a kid when your a Grimm was not a common thing to do.  And Having A half Grimm half zauberbiest son was even less common, or an 8-month-year-old half Grimm half hexenbiest daughter. However being up at midnight rocking said fussy baby side to side was one of those times he could almost pretend his life wasn’t a whirlwind he struggled to get his balance in. But he was that and his son’s Grimm powers had decided to manifest themselves a month before his sister was born. He would never trade in his kids of course, no matter how complicated it all was.

 

And it was complicated Kelly had been conceived through magic and born while Nick was fighting terrorists. Marie had been born the day after he had spent a few hours with his work buds burying a body so no one would know they had killed him not exactly by police guidelines. He was almost sad when Marie drifted off to sleep knowing he would take her to her crib and lay in bed hoping he would sleep, and if he did not have nightmares so bad he was more exhausted when he woke up. 

 

Nick was home the next day Marie it turned out had been fussy last night was because she was going to spend the morning throwing up everywhere. Adalind needed to be at work for a deposition so he took charge of watching her. This meant that he was the one home when Kelly barged the through the door. Nick looked up his son was sporting a rather impressive black eye and his arms were all scratched up. 

“Kelly what happened!” Nick asked walking over to his kid. 

“Some Balam said I needed to be stopped while I'm a kid. He said I’m the combination of the two wost things. I’m an abomination And I think you did something to his family in the past.” Kelly said sniffling his way through trying not to cry as Nick cleaned the scratched.

“You not your not an abomination right?” Nick asked trying to keep his tone conversational. 

“But I do have Grimm eyes when I woge no one does else does that. I am a freak no one like me is meant to exist” Kelly hung his head.

“Hey what about Marie huh? Would you call her an abomination? Or what about your cousins' no one else is like them are they not meant to be here? Or your older sister, do you think she’s bad.”

“Course not,” Kelly said

“So neither are you okay? You are fine and we love you.”

Kelly nodded his head. Nad nick ruffled his hair

"Let's get you an ice pack and some rest."

Kelly fell asleep on the couch where had been moping after Nick made him rest. Kelly had been taught some basic self-defence since he was a like 5 and they taught him about Grimm and Wesen history. They made sure he knew was to no pick fights, and to be calm if wesen got freaked. But they worked to try and make it possible for Kelly to be as normal as they could. But if stuff like this kept happening they might have to train him more and tell him to fight back. 

 

Nick put all of that out of his head trying to pretend it didn’t matter, but Kelly came home with scrapes and bruises multiple times a week so when Nick found himself in the fixed glare of Adalind after super.

“You told me you’d work it out with Kelly. But he just keeps being hurt! I’m going to do something if you don't!”

“Adalind. I guess I was just hoping it would work out like school bullies. I mean I got picked up on all the time, but it’s not the same fighting wesen when he doesn’t have control of his powers, and these fights aren’t just people being assholes. I do have a plan. I'm going to train him, make sure he can fight back. And tell him he should, I've just not wanted to have to.”

“That’s good, I know it's hard to make these choices. I would if I could but he needs Grimm skills right now."

“I just wanted him to be normal”

“Nick, do you know how many times people have tried to kill you? Including my dumb self like once a year someone has a vendetta against you. You really don’t think people won’t hate him for being a Grimm? Also, he has a hexenbiest for a mom, nobody likes us! Add on the fact people will use him against you, people already have manipulated us with Kelly and you know what they did to Diana. We will never be normal.”

“But he’s eight, I'll just make him stuck in this violence before his voice drops. I should be able to always keep him safe. ” Nick said laying his head in his hands.

“My mom never let me be a kid, Kelly's had a few years of him being a kid but you can’t make people stop trying to hurt us and our family. You have to recognize you can’t be Superman in five places simultaneously. You can’t save everyone at once. Give him the tools to fight back or he won’t come home one day.”

Nick met Adalind's gaze she was stern but also he saw the deep fear and sadness that haunted Adalind more days then it should. He loved her so much, and he knew Adalind hadn’t gotten involved because Kelly didn’t have any magic yet, he could only half woge. It had to be Nick to teach him he would need more than the self-defence he had. He needed to know to use weapons and know how to disable any creature and kill if need be. It had to be Mick to teach this to him, and then, of course, Marie when she was old enough. 

“I will, it’s how we keep him safe.”   
  


Nick and Kelly were camping, well sort of the woods was the best place to start weapons training away from prying eyes. 

So Kelly stood watching wide-eyed as Nick laid out weapons on a picnic table. A crossbow, a knife and a gun. 

“Why do you have those.”

“I’m going to make sure you can always be safe.”

“With a crossbow?”

“Well, we will do more hand to hand to for now. But I want you to see it all not during a fight so you know how it works. ”

“Why?”

“Like I said. You're never going to let anyone beat you without fighting back. You have to fight to disable the opponent every time.”

“You told me fighting wasn’t good with other kids. And to be nice to wesen, you're 'a new Grimm’” Kelly said parting Bud’s affectionate term.

“I did say that but I’m changing my advice. Always fight to win if someone comes at you. Someone starts the fight you finish. And we are new Grimms,  We don't jump to violence, or saying someone is a bad guy for his species. But if they show you they are violent, you don't let them hurt you, and you only kill when you have no other choice.”

“Kill them?” Kelly echoed softly.

“Yes. Like when people try and take you away, those you can shot to kill”

Kelly gulped looking at his dad felt a bit scary at that moment. His dad was wearing the expression he got during fights, it was the look that always matched up with things getting hard.

“Let's start with the knife”

They spent a long weekend in the woods learning to fight to disable, and to wield a weapon should he need to. When they drove back to their house both had a heavy feeling, going back to the suburban life they pantomimed was even harder. 

 

* * *

 

Four months later they were caught up in some criminal enterprise chasing them. And one of the goons grabbed Kelly from behind. But he what to do because he could tell his family was on edge so he had a knife and was primed to fight.  The adults watched as Kelly skillfully fought back using his captor's strength against him, quickly getting out of his arms expertly sending a blade right to the heart of the man who had just a second later had his hand over Kelly's mouth.

Kelly hadn’t even thought as he did it, something just clicked in his head when he recognized this guy was going to hurt him. Everything he learned just slid into place. How his aunt Truble taught him to fight as the person who is smaller,  his dad had told you to always fight to win. And just the sheer number of days they had spent training. But none of these thoughts mattered till after the other guy was on the ground. Kelly was breathing fast and shallow as he watched the blood met his sneakers. 

Kelly then turned around to see his dad knock the head man out and then slap on the handcuffs nothing odd,  but then saw Wu and Hank's faces. They were staring at him with high levels of shock and confusion. And maybe even some disgust mixed on Hank's.

“How did you do that?” Wu asked, “You get your hexenbiest powers?”

“No. Dad and Truble taught me to do it.”

“That was what you did when you've been ‘camping Nick. Making your kid into an assassin!”

Nick glared at Hank as he checked on his son. Kelly only had a bruise on his arm. The only blood on at the scene was the other man's pooling around Kelly.

“He had to know how to protect himself,” Nick explained.

“So you taught him to kill people!” Hank shouted after them.

“Of course I did!” Nick shouted back at his partner of so many years, Nick trusted him but he did not get this. Hank had no kids, he had never had to make the choice between stealing your kid's innocence and leaving him vulnerable to being hurt or killed.

* * *

 

When Kelly was twelve and sitting with his friend Janna in a park during the summer. He was on edge because his parents always were. His parents had unintentionally taught him to always be on edge. 

He and his friend were comparing what shows they had been binging when some dude came up and started messing with them being creepy with Janna. Then the man made the stupid choice to touch Janna, Kelly’s now years of training kicked in and he went into fight mode taking the man twice his size to the grass incapacitating him fast not even breaking a sweat. Kelly didn’t kill him or anything but Janna still looked at him dazed.

“I didn’t know you did karate.” She said with a confused glare

“I don’t my dad and aunt taught me that it's nothing formal,” Kelly explained

Jana followed him as Kelly walked away quickly.

“You're just leaving him there.”

“He’s not gonna die. I know how to knock people out with killing them.”

“Okay, why?” Jana asked.

“I’m not sure if you've noticed but my family is kinda security conscious.”

“I have noticed you have a panic button and a weapon in every room”

“Yeah, I know how to use all of them. I know how to fight, how to protect myself and my family! I have to know!”

“Your twelve years old! How can they make you do that.”

“I’ve always been taught how to protect myself and I started training hard when I was eight.”

“Your dad made you learn to knock people out when you were eight.”

“Well, actually those moves are much more Aunt Trouble and Rosealee. He does make sure I can land a punch. Dad was the one who taught me I have to win, guns, crossbows and other old weapons. Uncle Hank taught me shotguns. Mom taught me poisons and stuff.”

“Your dad taught you to shoot people when you eight?”

“No, I used a knife for that when I was eight, not good at handling recoil”

“Jesus, what the fuck? Is your dad John Winchester!”

“What no? I’ve never lived in a motel I have a nice suburban house with a panic room”

“He wants to make you a soldier!”

“There are things you don’t know about him or me or anything!” Kelly shouted raising his hands over his head breathing fast.

“What don’t I know?”

“I'll show you let’s get out of the road.”

They got back to Kelly’s house and were standing awkward in the living room. “Please don't freak out okay?”

“I’m already freaked go for the gold bro”

“Right” And Kelly woged and stared at someone he hoped would still like him.

“Wicked! You’re magic!” She said shouted clasping her hands together.

“You're not freaked out?”

“The act your some kind of magic is less frightening than the implication you killed a dude at age eight.”

“right. Well yeah, there is a lot to learn about magic.”

“Let’s do that. This is the coolest day of my life!”

* * *

 

Having Janna know his secret had helped Kelly. Though it was impossible to not know by middle school he was so many things no one else was. Not just because his face could look like a magic hag and see wesen. But who he had been taught to be, like being such a good shot Hank said he could be a certified marksman. Kelly was s fighter and a good one. And by thirteen he could tell that killed screwed with his parents as much as how everytime he dragged into the school psychologist for not playing well with others and visible anxiety. Being the way he was clearly not normal, but it was okay when everyone he loved was different. His cousins, parents, aunts, uncles and siblings were all weird like him. With the wesen and normal people, and even their Grimm history. 

 

Nick watched his now teenage son discuss what weapon would be best for specific fight situations with his sister. Nick had just walked in the door after a kidnapping case. It always killed him a bit inside with kids, he had ended up in a violent brawl in front of a traumatized little girl. That kid would never be the same.  He was tired and the violence ate at his heart, Adalind understood and supported him so most nights he was able to pull through. But Nick also knew his kids had seen so much violence. Diana herself had been kidnapped and hurt and controlled for so long everyone could tell something was off she was both too grown up and still younger than she really was. 

 

But even the other two had seen so much violence people trying to hurt them and their family. And to survive Nick made them have to perpetuate that violence, train them in a way he knew they could never really fit in. You didn’t fit in well with a million secrets and the fact that Nick could never get the fact his eight-year-old kid had stabbed a man through his heart. Or when his daughter informed him that the kids at school were stupid because they didn’t note the exits when they got in a room. She was also already showing signs of following her mother with the skills of being a hexenbiest meaning she would become even more disconnected from everyone else. He and Adalind had also passed on fear, anxiety, and harshness. Not all their fault really other people kept trying to hurt the kids, but Nick knew it wasn't not their fault, they were their parents. 

 

Nick hoped he did the best he could, no one had ever written a parenting book for the father of magic Grimm children. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the SPN reference but I can't pretend I didn't think about him when writing that. I was absolute trash for Dean Winchester when I was younger.
> 
> Let me know what you think! And this is meant to exist within the same timeline as the previous story.  
>  Should I make a timeline post for the events I've created between the main stories?


End file.
